The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture

As season 2 kicks off, Rabbi Josh will be adding weekly reflections and teachings about things that you might find interesting in the Jewish world and beyond the Jewish world. This week he shares an ancient Jewish teaching that resonates with what's happening in the United States right now. It's a midrash - an ancient Jewish retelling of a Bible story - that offers a wild take on a story from the Torah you've heard already. Enjoy.

We're back for Season 2 of the Genesis, continuing to explore Jewish identity and culture. In addition to now weekly conversations, Season 2 will feature weekly-ish reflections from Rabbi Josh on a variety of Jewish topics.

Alicia Jo Rabins is a Jewish writer, musician, composer, performer and Torah teacher. She combines words, music, ritual and performance to create works exploring the intersection of ancient wisdom texts, feminism, and everyday life. Alicia Jo tours internationally as a musician and performer; her work has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Joe's Pub. Her collections of poetry, , Divinity School and , Fruit Geode have been recognized widely for their skill and beauty - the latter was a finalist for the Jewish Book Award. Her book Even God Had Bad Parenting Days contains useful and insightful personal essays about early parenthood and Jewish spirituality. As a musician and performer, Alicia Jo is the creator and performer of Girls in Trouble, which she and I go into in some depth. It's an indie-folk song cycle about the complicated lives of Biblical women with accompanying curriculum rich in Jewish sources. Her 2014 play A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff is a uniquely Jewish take on the financial fraudster and was adapted into an award-winning independent feature film and we end up talking about that, too. Enjoy!

Rabbi Josh shares a powerful teaching about Purim, about the Jewish response to a world in a crappy state of suffering.... and the true meaning of faith PLUS: more to come from the podcast in coming weeks, an awesome Israeli movie and more.

This week Rabbi Josh raps with Jeff Alden - if that really is his name - who tells a beautiful and moving story about uncovering an important piece of his own autobiography rather late in life. We cover a little bit of Jewish immigrant history, how America allowed people of all backgrounds to reinvent themselves, and how Jewish identity and culture are sometimes at work in the background of our lives. Jeff is a smart, fascinating, articulate man of culture and I'm grateful to him for sharing his unique Jewish story on the podcast. Enjoy!

Is Self-Criticism a Jewish trait? What role does it play in inspiring us - or damaging us? Liz Asch Greenhill is no stranger to the Co/Lab: Reimagine Jewish universe. I came to know Liz through our Jewish artist fellowship, Art/Lab, and have come to really respect how her ongoing search for self-overcoming and renewal has led her down new pathways. We discuss Jewish identity, self criticism and whether that's a Jewish trait, her psychedelic work and the Jewish-ness of psychedelic journeys, her work as an artist and a healer and more. Enjoy the conversation with Liz Asch Greenhill!

Rabbi Josh sat down with Zac Banik, an alumnus of our Art/Lab program (second cohort) and a thoughtful, creative human (actually this was two conversations SEAMLESSLY woven together through editing). Their conversation covers the tension between creativity/innovation and tradition in Jewish life and art, how we think about what we owe the Jewish past and the Jewish future, and they delve into Zac's fascinating engagement with an AI bot named Uriel, who loves Jewish ideas and with whom Zac has a relationship ... sort of. Enjoy.

Aiden Kent stops by the podcast to talk about music but the conversation goes deeper and into interesting places.... Enjoy.

This is an episode from a partner podcast, Unveiling Death, hosted by Rabbi Josh's dear friend Rabbi Jeffrey Weill. Rabbi Weill asked Rabbi Josh and antoher dear friend Rabbi Matt Reimer to have a discussion on the anniversary of October 7th.

An unusual episode this week - Rabbi Josh is the interlocutor instead of the interviewer as he and his friend Shawn Weiss take up the war in Israel. The two have different takes on how to think about the meaning of the War and its implications, and how to reckon with the values at stake. They differ on how to think about the war but do so without polemics, cheap shots, labels or acrimony. Instead they approach it as two peole who care about Jewish life and values, who are profoundly troubled by the war and its toll, and its future.

Among many other things Shawn Weiss is a rabbincal student and an author. You can read some of his essays on various aspects of Jewish life at

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/shawn-aron-weiss/

Rabbi Brian Mayer joins us to discuss his new book and his organization, Religion Outsisde of the Box. Rabbi Brian is a lot of fun to talk to as you'll see - but the conversation also gets very serious and even intense. Enjoy!